INDIANAPOLIS — On Monday night, the Indianapolis Department of Public Works announced an updated and enhanced archaeology plan for construction of the Henry Street Bridge, which overlaps with a portion of the former Greenlawn Cemetery.
The city has entered into a contract with Stantec, an engineering services company, to provide a proactive archaeological approach to the site.
"Rather than treating the site as a potential for accidental discovery we’re going to be treating the site as a true archaeological process," said Brandon Herget, the director of DPW.
Significant sections of the project overlap with Greenlawn Cemetery, which is recognized as the city's first cemetery. The bridge will go through two of the four cemeteries.
For more than a year, city officials have been meeting with concerned community members regarding the future construction site. Despite 100+ years of previous development on the site, many gravesites remain buried.
"I think that’s the way it should have been done," said Wildstyle Paschall, an Indianapolis resident and activist.
"They’re coming up with solutions that are going to help not only Indianapolis but the community," said Stella Anderson who attended the meeting.
The project will take about just under 1.5 acres of the 20 plus acre site, but the city estimates that 650 or more graves could be unearthed during construction.
"In this area we can proceed much more like we would in any cemetery project," said Jeremy Wilson, a professor of anthropolgy at Indiana University, Indianapolis.
Wilson will be working with a team of archaeologists as the bridge gets constructed.
"Progressively stripping the over burden mechanically and shifting to teams of archaeologist that will hand dig any graves or grave shafts that are identified," said Wilson.
The Henry Street Bridge project originates from an agreement between the city, state and Elanco for the city to build out the infrastructure supporting Elanco’s new global headquarters on the west side of the White River.
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The Indianapolis Cultural Trail: A Legacy of Gene and Marilyn Glick will also expand as part of this project, connecting The Valley and near Westside to downtown.
The White River Innovation District is being completed in phases, with work underway currently underway on the west side of the river.
- Phase 1 is currently under construction with the infrastructure to support the Elanco campus on the west side of the river
- Phase 2 is the Henry Street Bridge
- Phase 3 is the Henry Street connector, which includes building the roadway that connects from the bridge to Kentucky Avenue
For more information on the project you can visit this website.
City officials would not comment about plans for what is supposed to be Eleven Park.
